


Please Forget to Fall Down

by aintweproudriff



Series: Royalty/Magic AU [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Family Rivalry, M/M, Multi, Prompt Fill, i cant get over the fact that i get to write a spralmer magic royalty au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:26:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12848865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Somehow, through some twist of fate or divine intervention or just plain boredom, the four princes of rival kingdoms met. If that could have been all there was to it, that would have been enough for them. Instead, they changed the fate of all of their nations.(Alternatively titled: I can't stop using emo song lyrics as titles please save me)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elmerspape](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elmerspape/gifts).



> Seriously my life is the best I get to write this I'm like,,, very happy. But also very scared, because this is a stretch for me! (also this chapter is so short i promise ill write more than 1000 words at some point)

“Once upon a time,” started an old man, “there were four great leaders. The four of them worked together to build one beautiful kingdom, one in which all kinds of magic could flourish-”

“Daa-aad,” whined the boy in bed next to the man, “I swear you’ve told me this a million times. And I have to hear it in class! I think I know this story by now.”

The man chuckled. “Then I guess I do not have to tell it to you? I mean, if you already know it by heart, little prince, you could always tell it to me instead.”

“Fine,” he huffed, his black hair becoming mussed on the pillow, “I’ll listen. But you have to promise me that you’ll tell it really really well, okay?”

Smiling and nodding, the man began again. “Once upon a time, there were four great leaders. The four of them worked together to build one beautiful kingdom, one in which all kinds of magic could flourish. Water, earth, air, and fire magic thrived together in one huge kingdom, and, despite how much the rulers sometimes fought, they loved living together in that way. Some of the old scholars would even go on to write about how the four balanced each other out; it seemed to many that the tempers or the brashness of-” he coughed pointedly “-certain rulers were neutralized by the tranquility of other the other rulers,” the king pointed to himself and grinned proudly, making his son giggle. “People living in the kingdom were happy. They were free to practice magic as they pleased, and although each person had a certain type of magic that seemed to fit them best, there were allowed and even encouraged to learn they types of magic that did not come so naturally to them. Food was plentiful, since water, fire, earth, and air magic were all used to grow crops. It was such a time of peace, people could go anywhere they wished in the kingdom without fear of what may happen.”

As the king droned on, Prince Elmer’s eyes glazed over. He allowed for his mind to wander back to a time when his feet could have gone wherever he wished, without the consequences he might face. In his mind’s eye, he could walk, barefoot, directly across the river and into whichever other area he pleased. He would be greeted by anyone and everyone he met, welcomed with smiles and open arms and offers of food for the young Prince of the Water Kingdom. 

His father smiled lovingly and progressed with the story. “When peace left, it was like the departure of a flock of birds after they have heard a threat. Panicked, each of the leaders withdrew to separate lands which they had claimed for themselves. Practicers of one kind of magic followed the ruler with whom they identified the most, forming makeshift nations, divided along shaky borders, and leaving behind any friends and family who had specified in one certain type of magic.”

The prince’s eyes grew wide, and his father wondered if he had this reaction every time he heard this story. 

“None of the scholars or poets who wrote of this time remember exactly how the peace was lost. Some say,” he leaned forward, resting his hands on the edge of the bed, “that the queen of the fire magic grew greedy and dissatisfied with what she had been given. Those who followed the laws of fire magic accused the monarch of the earth magic of withholding crops from the people of fire. The monarch of earth magic is said to have thrown charges against the king of the water magic - that would be your great-great-grandfather; they said he had flooded the crops on purpose, and that if the reason the people of fire had received less food than normal, that was the reason why. The only thing that the scholars can agree on is the air queen’s reaction.”

“What did she do?” Elmer pulled himself up to sit.

“She tried to intervene. She attempted to get involved and end the fighting,” the king shook his head. “That only made things worse; all of the other rulers turned on her, forcing her to retreat into the mountains of the northwest corner of the kingdom. And without her there, the remaining three turned on each other until they were too tired to continue fighting. They tried to order troops to mobilize, but no one would comply. Each ruler withdrew to small homes in the corners of the kingdom, eventually settling on building castles for themselves and drawing boundary lines, building nations that they claimed were temporary,” the king sighed. 

“And were they temporary?” 

“No,” the boy’s father’s chest rose and fell. “No, they were not temporary. I think that there may be some hope for the future. Possibly one day, the four kingdoms will be able to see sense; maybe then we will reconnect and live together again, like we once were able to. But unfortunately, that time of peace is one that my father was too young to remember, as I am, and as you are. So it is possible that none of the rulers of our separate kingdoms know how to make peace with each other, no matter how much may we try.”

The prince gasped. “But you have to try and make peace, right? Because if you do, then everything can be good again, like it used to be?”

Standing, the king ruffled his son’s hair. “Yes, I suppose we do need to keep making attempts toward peace. I promise that I will do everything in my power to sway that decision. However, I am only one man, and they are many.”

He pulled the blanket up over Elmer’s chest and shuffled his way over to the door. He was growing old, and the boy behind him was the only child he and his wife had ever had. 

“Maybe you’re right,” he whispered to the boy, whose eyes were already closed in fatigue. “Maybe we should tell you different stories. For my sake, if not for yours.”

The king turned out the light and closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

The stars in the sky cast just enough light on the trees to create shadows that fell on the ground that danced and swayed like they were at some grand ball. The lights of the castle shone on the stone pathway that led down to the moat, a rushing river that was meant to protect them. For anyone who understood water magic, however, the moat was a joke. Anyone who could control water even a little bit could, at the very least, create a clear path for themselves to walk through the moat on dry land. 

Elmer took off the shoes he was wearing and held them tightly in his hand, stepping forward across the patterns of light on the cobblestone. He stopped when he reached the bank of the water, letting the sound and the soft spray of the river wash over his ears and face. If he closed his eyes, he could let everything around him stop for only a second. No longer would he be sneaking out for a midnight walk, but lounging by the side of some stream in his father’s vast kingdom. He could almost imagine that the sun shone on his face, reflecting sunlight off the river in a dazzling way. But when he opened his eyes, he saw only the castle that he was leaving behind him. 

He let his feet step onto the water, willing for it to keep his buoyancy. The waves lapped at his ankles, but never once did he begin to sink below the surface. Each little movement in the water pushed him further downstream, and he had to walk quickly, with sure feet, in order to get to the other side of the moat.   
He reached the other bank, breathing a sigh of relief when he had crossed. It wasn’t that he had never walked on water before. Of course he had. But tonight, the muddy riverbank was more than a finish line: it was a starting point. 

Elmer decided against putting his shoes back on, instead reveling in the way mud and grass felt, and letting the cool night air brush against his face. A laugh escaped from his mouth as he picked up speed, not bothering to dodge the pools and puddles of water that seeped out from the saturated ground. He splashed through them, bringing up water droplets with him. The water followed his every movement like it was magnetically attracted to him, but he let it fall behind him. 

-

He couldn’t have been expected to keep track of the time he spent outside. Since every inch of the kingdom was covered in trees, bushes, and consistently overcast, there was no way he could have watched the moon’s path as the night dragged on. Besides, every second felt like days, but a day could have felt like a minute. 

All he knew was that he had run far enough from his home - his castle - to have made it to a point in the kingdom where not everything was humid and heavy with water. It was arid: green but dry, and plants were low to the ground rather than stretching tall. He stepped out from a grove of trees, the final one before he could see no more, and took a look around. To the front of him was a desert, above which he could see blue and purple mountains reaching towards the sky, like if they only could extend themselves a little further, they would finally break through a cloud and scratch a part of heaven. The stretch of dry land continued as far as he could see to the south, but as he slowly made a circle counterclockwise, he could see that downstream from his kingdom there was an extension of his forest. It was green and dense with trees, but with more rocks and boulders than he’d ever seen, even on the banks of his home rivers. These were the other kingdoms, the places he had never gone and would never go. And where he stood right now, at this moment in time, was farther away from his own home than he’d ever been before. The thought of it sent chills down his spine, which were not helped by the sounds of rustling in trees just to the north. 

Prince Elmer swiveled around, taking steps back but wishing he could move forward, his hands facing with their palms to the ground, instinctively readying themselves to call any water from the ground to his aid. 

“What’s that?” he called, begging for his voice to stay strong. The rustling suddenly halted, and he felt a shock of resolve pass over him. “Who’s there?”

He heard a thud, and a grunt, and a swear, followed by footsteps that seemed to drag on the ground, making the mud slosh. A head of gold hair poked out from behind a wall of branches, followed by the rest of a boy’s body, dressed all in black. The boy raised his hands as if in surrender, but a smile grew on his face when he caught sight of just who he was surrendering to. 

“Hey,” he lowered his arms. “Uh, sorry about that. I guess I just, uh, don’t get to climb a lot of trees. It’s a lot of fun, have you ever done it?”

“Have I ever climbed a tree?” Elmer moved backwards in surprise. “Yeah,” he nodded warily, “I have. You haven’t?”

“Not until tonight!” the boy’s smile was crooked, a secret he refused to share with anyone but himself. 

Elmer laughed despite himself. “You’ve never climbed a tree until tonight? That’s horrible!”

The boy stepped forward. “I just don’t have a lot of trees, okay?” he defended himself. “And I’m not all that interested in climbing bushes!” 

The realization finally dawned on Elmer. To not have many trees, the boy would have to-

“Are you from this kingdom?” the boy asked him, pointing towards Elmer’s home. 

He coughed at the shock of being torn out of his thought. “Uh, yeah, I am. And you’re not, obviously. You must be from-” he pointed towards the mountains of the air kingdom. 

The boy’s eyes grew wide as he looked backwards, nodding. “Home sweet home,” he looked back at Elmer and smiled, resting his arm on a tree. “So, uh, what are you doin’ out so late, uh, whatsyourname?”

“Elmer,” he grinned, but stopped short of revealing anything else about himself. “Uh, I don’t, honestly, really know what I’m doing out so late. I think I just kinda needed to clear my head, you know?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I do know. That’s basically why I’m out here too. Life is hard sometimes,” he sighed. 

“So sometimes, you have to climb trees,” Elmer laughed. 

“Exactly. Glad to meet someone else who gets it.”

Silence fell over them, as did leaves from the tree that the boy had been climbing. Elmer chuckled and picked a leaf from his hair, letting himself breathe in the dry, peaceful air around him. It was strange to see the way that the light looked the same in each of the different kingdoms. For so long, Elmer had expected to see the other areas of this land and see places totally different. In some ways, he supposed, they were entirely contrary to the way he lived. But if the moon looked the same from each kingdom, how could they be that different?

“What’s it like?” the boy’s head shot up, “What’s it like in the water kingdom?”

Elmer pondered on this. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I mean, it’s wet,” he raised his eyebrows, “and people use a lot of water to do everything. Like, everything. What’s it like in the air kingdom?”

“It’s dry, I guess,” the boy scoffed, “but that’s obvious. I don’t know. We, uh, live in the mountains, and we focus a lot on bein’ alone. Y’know? It’s like, we spend time with the air or whatever, and it’s good. But I think it’s lonely. Is it like that for you?”

“No,” Elmer shook his head quickly. “It’s very much about how heavy the water is, and how we all have to move a lot of it together. Like, everyone can move a little bit, right? But if we wanted to reroute a river or something,” he waved his hands around, “it would take a lot of us.”

“Oh. Do you like it?”

“I mean, I guess,” Elmer swallowed. “But at the same time, I think I’d like to know how to do it on my own. There’s no, uh, what would you call it-”

“-independence.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

-

The sun blinded the two boys and woke them up, both of them propped against tree trunks, and both of them falling from their seated position as they awoke. Elmer shot straight up, his mouth opening in the shape of an ‘o’. 

“I have to get home, oh my god,” the other boy mumbled. Elmer nodded in stunned agreement. 

As the boy took off, running back towards his kingdom, Elmer realized for the first time what he should have known hours ago. 

“Wait!” Elmer called after him, and the boy turned around, but kept running. “What’s your name?”

The boy stopped for a split second. “Uh, An- Race! My name’s Race!”

When he - Race - turned back around and kept running, Elmer let his legs carry him back home. 

“Race,” he turned the name over in his mouth. “Race.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey come talk to me on tumblr @spot-and-all-his-cronies!


	3. Chapter 3

It was a bad idea, but Elmer left his home again a few nights later. For days, he’d been itching to feel the cool breeze on his face and arms, to climb a tree for no reason other than to be up in the air, and to escape. Best of all, he itched to let himself forget that he was a prince, that he had responsibilities.As he ran over the moat, he let everything that was behind him float downstream, just like the ripples he left with his heels.  
The night was freezing, and every time he dug his toes into the mud, he felt little bits of ice. He pushed the ice and fog away from him, which warmed up the ground beneath him and the air around him. As the water droplets moved outward, they seemed to collect and dance nearby, eventually landing on the branches and forming icicles. The whole kingdom looked like a wonderland of frost. 

-

He found himself, again, at the border of the kingdoms. He’d almost halfway hoped to see Race again, to investigate if that could have been more than a once-in-a-lifetime meeting. But the area was totally desolate. He let his magic fall and the water from behind him filled up the path he’d left. Elmer took a deep sigh and let it out, his warm breath interrupting the cold air around him. His feet nearly took him back home then and there, but he stopped himself to listen to the silence that he felt. It made the hair on his arms stand up on edge, and would have been eerie if it hadn’t been shrilly brought to a close. A shout broke the suspended quiet, ringing through the night like a bell. Elmer froze in place, his heart pounding harder than it had when he was running. Another yell followed, and Elmer took off in that direction. 

He’d never been in the earth kingdom before, since he hadn’t ever felt a need to. It was woodsy, like his home, but dry, and the roots of trees jutted out everywhere, almost making him trip with each step he took. He bumbled along, trying to feel his way through the dark, and focused on finding the source of the scream. 

A boy laid on the ground, his chest rising and falling heavily and rapidly. He convulsed, clutching his stomach with his hands and bringing his knees to his face. Elmer burst out from a layer of trees, moving as fast as he could to get to the boy, when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulder, violently throwing off his center of balance and forcing him to the ground. 

“Hey!” Elmer yelled impulsively, but found that when he struggled to get back up, he was tied to the ground with threads of grass. Two boys now stood at his feet, one looming over him, one casting a shadow to the side. “Let me up!”

“What’s your name?” one of them asked. 

“You have no right to ask that.”

“I just tied you to the ground, and you can’t get it undone,” the other’s face grew stern as he spoke slowly, “I think we’ve got a right to ask.”

“My name’s Elmer,” he gave up, letting himself rest on the ground. The earth was much warmer here, he noticed. 

“Okay, Elmer,” the first one spoke again, “why were you running at my friend here?”

“I- your friend? I heard screaming and I thought someone was in trouble, I was trying to come and help, but you shoved me. You’re the one who ran at me!”

The quieter one took a step back, laughing loudly. The grass around his wrists let up, and Elmer stood. 

“I think,” Elmer brushed himself off, “that you owe me an apology.”

The two boys barely heard him, but had their hands on each other’s shoulders. Their laughter echoed against the trunks of trees, making it ten times louder against Elmer’s ears. For the first time so far, he got to have a good look at him. The one who had accused him was much shorter than the other one, dressed in red, his arms completely bare. His hair was dark and his jaw was square and tough, but when he laughed he looked like a little kid. The taller one had bright red hair, which was encircled by a headband of leaves, flowers, and grass, and he was clothed in a bright green shirt with sleeves so loose they didn’t cover his arms. Their laughs eventually calmed down, and the boy in red turned back to face Elmer. 

“My name’s Spot,” he held out his hand, which Elmer shook. Spot’s handshake was much firmer than his, Elmer noticed. “This is Albert. Fire,” he said, pointing to himself, “and earth,” he pointed to Albert.

“I’m from water,” Elmer tried to smile, but found his face shaking. 

“Yeah,” Albert breathed out gently, “we noticed.”

“How did you-”

“When you fell, the ground literally rippled,” Albert nodded, “I can’t make it move like that, but someone who controls the moisture of the soil could.”

Spot sniffed. “Still,” he said, “that takes a lot of power. You’re pretty skilled, huh?”

Elmer shrugged, not wanting to give away too much. “I guess I am, I don’t know-”

“Well so are we,” Spot stepped forward, and Elmer felt a wave of heat as he got closer. “So don’t think you’re any better than us.”

“I wasn’t going to. I mean, you can tie me to the ground with grass, and I’m sure you could burn and bury me in half a second,” Elmer put his hands up. “I’ll steer clear of you guys.”

The other two laughed. 

“We’re not, you know,” Albert rolled his eyes and stepped forward to put a hand on Spot’s shoulder, “gonna bite. We just want to make sure you don’t get too, uh, sure of yourself and try a little thing where you run at one of us again. That’d be bad.”

“Yeah, it would be,” Elmer agreed. “But uh, in that case, you know, it was nice to meet you both. I’d better get out of your hair, let you do what you wanna do,” he knew he was rambling, he just wanted to be polite. “I’ll get going.”

“Alright,” Albert smiled, and Elmer was thrown by just how genuine it looked. “It was good to meet you, Elmer.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, pausing to keep his body squared and facing the other boys. “You too. I think.”

-

He was not able to fall asleep that night; instead he paced the room, unable to think and yet somehow over thinking every move he had made that night. Elmer’s thoughts moved faster than his feet had, faster than Spot had turned on him, and faster than the water in the moat.  
Landing on the bed with a thud, he let himself breathe. Why he couldn’t get these events, these moments of freedom, these boys out of his head he had no clue, but already he needed another hit of the freedom and the other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd probably like, die if someone drew me albert's outfit im bEGGING you


	4. Chapter 4

He got that hit soon enough, in pale starlight that wasn’t blocked by the branches of any trees. For the third time, he found himself at a scene he’d promised himself he’d never see. It was becoming strangely familiar to Elmer, and he wasn’t totally sure if he could handle that, but he assumed it was the way it was. With each time he went out, he began to feel less and less nervous, and less worried about the taboo of seeing other kingdoms. After all, he’d met three people from three different kingdoms in the last few weeks, and they’d all been nice enough. Well, he wasn’t so sure about Spot.   
But Elmer cleared the thoughts of the other three boys from his mind, instead letting his mind wander to dreams of another adventure he could have tonight. And honestly, all of his ideas seemed a little too mundane. All he could think about was climbing trees and running, telling jokes and roughhousing. All of those things he’d done already, or seen other people be doing out here. It was odd, the way he kept thinking about everything that had happened. He had thought that he only liked to think about it because it was him doing something totally on his own, him taking hold of his own time and freedom and stretching it past its limits, but when he was out in the open alone he couldn’t be sure. He turned to look back at his home kingdom, wondering why he didn’t feel this same rush tonight. 

A pair of hands on his shoulders shocked him out of his mind. Elmer let out a rather undignified scream, zipping around on his heel. Race’s face met him, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth open, roaring in laughter. 

“Race, oh my-” Elmer breathed softly, not loud enough to overtake the sound of Race’s laughs “-oh my god.”

“Did I scare you?” Race asked cheerfully, like he was asking if the weather was supposed to be nice tomorrow. 

“Yeah, you kinda did!”

Race fake-pouted. “Aw, Elmer, I’m not that scary, am I?”

“You on your own?” Elmer raised an eyebrow, finally having caught his breath. “No. You sneaking up on me in the middle of the night? Yeah, that’s scary!” 

Race made a tsk noise, “I’m not the scary one here, man,” he shook his head so seriously that Elmer couldn’t tell if he was still kidding. 

Elmer made a face. “Well, I mean, I’m not scary, so I think-”

“No, no!” Race shrugged his shoulders excitedly. “Spot’s the scary one!” Race stepped aside, and the sight of Spot behind him caused Elmer to blink in surprise. “I heard you two met a couple days ago, and I’d been wondering if you’d be out again. Figured I would bring Spot with me to come see if you were here.”

 

“Elmer,” Spot nodded. 

“Yeah, hi, Spot.” Elmer waved awkwardly. “Good to, uh, see you again.”

Race rolled his eyes. “Apparently, he’s sorry that he like, attacked you. He’d never say that to your face though.”

“Well, uh, apology accepted, I guess?” Elmer chuckled, feeling how red his cheeks were. 

Spot nodded in agreement. 

After a moment of quiet, Elmer spoke again. “So, uh, that other guy? Albert? Do you know him too, Race?”

“Oh yeah, Al’s great,” Race grinned. 

“He’s probably out already, actually,” Spot jerked his head to the south. “Waiting for us.”

Race looked up at the sky. Looking at the moon, Elmer figured. “Yeah, shit, it’s time huh? Let’s get going.”

As Race began to run southward, racing into the trees, Elmer stood, stiff as a board. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to follow or stay there; the three of them knew each other already, so why would-

“Elmer?” Spot looked up. “You can come, if you want.”

Spot took off after Race, not quite as fast as the first boy, and Elmer paused before following. He may as well go with; there was no reason not to. 

-

It was much darker in the middle of the woods, with all of the tree cover. Elmer still had trouble navigating between tree roots, but this time he was more sure of his footing. Spot knew exactly how to jump over the jutting roots, so Elmer did his best to copy his movements. When they reached the clearing, however, Elmer realized that this was the place he’d met Albert and Spot a few days ago.   
Albert was, in fact, waiting for Spot and Race. 

“Finally,” he shook his head, his hair bouncing as he did. “You guys took forever, I was about to leave.”

“Sorry,” Spot wasn’t even out of breath, “Race wanted to go see this kid.” He gestured to Elmer. “You remember him.”

Albert’s annoyed face broke into a grin. “Yeah, for sure. Hi Elmer.”

Elmer waved and, not wanting to show how tired he actually was, whispered a quick “hi.”

“So what’s going on recently, guys?” Albert leaned back against a tree. “Anything interesting?”

“Not really,” Race laughed and sat on the ground. “Life’s been pretty boring recently, if I’m honest.”

Spot coughed lightly. “Yeah, for me too.”

“In that case, Elmer, you should tell us a little bit about yourself.” Albert raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah!” Race smiled honestly. “I mean, you seemed cool when we talked a little bit ago, I’d like to hear more.”

“Oh, wow,” Elmer stuttered. If he thought about it, he couldn’t really remember the last time someone had asked for his opinion on something, let alone on himself. Mostly, he’d been told what to think by advisors or his parents. And if anyone had asked his opinion, it was never because they wanted to know how he felt. It was because if they could get close to the prince, maybe they’d get to be the water kingdom’s next princess. That, Elmer had to admit, was a laughable concept. 

“Oh wow what?” Spot asked, gruffly but not unkindly. “Oh wow how?”

“Just that, uh, I don’t know that-” he willed his brain to think about what he said “-I don’t know that I’m very interesting.” Elmer would have liked to talk to them about what his day-to-day life was like, to tell them all about how he lived and acted and the amount of stress he felt, but he bit his lip. If they heard he was the prince, how would they react? Like all the other people who knew? Would they still think he was relaxed enough to be their friend, or would they think he couldn’t relate to people like them? 

“Oh come on, we’re all interesting,” Albert held out his hands. 

“Okay, how are you guys interesting?” Elmer found his shoulders relaxing. 

Albert laughed loudly. Pointing to Race, he rolled his eyes and said, “Race is super powerful with air. He can literally fly.”

“Everyone in my kingdom does that.”

“Yeah, but not everyone can do it like you. Not everyone can make other people fly, Race,” Albert pointed out, and Race slumped. 

“Well,” Race countered, “Spot’s like, the best I’ve ever seen with fire. He once started a fire in a puddle. Like, with no fuel or oxygen or heat.”

Elmer sat up a little straighter. “Seriously?”

Spot just shrugged. “And you already know that Albert’s super strong, right?”

Elmer nodded hastily. Yeah, he knew Albert could manipulate the earth better than almost anyone else. He’d looked it up at home: people with earth magic were only able to move the actual earth, not the plants. Albert may very well have had the strongest magic in the history of his kind of magic. 

“And you?” Race asked. “You’re pretty good, right?”

“Yeah, I am. I mean, I guess. I just know how to move, like any kind of water I see.”

“Y’know, I was thinking about that,” Albert tilted his head. “The way you found the water in the soil and made it move like a river, accordin’ to what you wanted: does that mean that, in theory, you could do that kinda thing to a body?”

Elmer felt himself gasp. “God, I’d never thought of that. I don’t even want to think of that.”

Spot leaned forward. “But could you?”

“I don’t know! I - I guess I could, why would you even ask that?” Elmer didn’t realize that he had begun to yell. 

“Dude,” Race reached out, putting his hand on Elmer’s shoulder. “It’s alright, don’t freak out. It was literally just a question. A really freaky question,” he glared at Albert, “but a totally innocent question.”

Elmer took a breath. If that sort of thing happened again, he didn’t know that he’d stick around for it. But he couldn’t find it in himself to leave these guys right now. 

“Alright,” he shook his head. “It’s alright.”

-

As the night wore on, Elmer found himself enjoying the company of these boys more and more. Sure, they were a little bit - out there - with some of the things they said, but all of them were intensely funny, and great company. As the color of the sky changed, Elmer took a second to wish that the sun would take its time in rising. He could have, he realized, stayed there a few more hours, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. 

“I have to get going,” Race said eventually. “It’s a long way home.”

Elmer said goodbye to Race casually, being taken off guard when Race grabbed his shoulders and hugged him quickly before hugging his other two friends. He got a running start and jumped, air currents pushing him home. 

“I need to leave too,” Spot nodded, moving around. He hugged Albert and shook Elmer’s hand, letting Elmer know exactly where he stood in Spot’s eyes. Elmer didn’t mind, though. If Spot hadn’t attacked him that night, it was a good interaction. 

Elmer nodded, “I’ll go home too,” he smiled at Albert, who hugged him. 

“We’re here every other night, Elmer,” Albert called as Elmer started to walk away. “Feel free to, uh, come hang out whenever you want.”

Elmer looked quizzically at his new friend, and then smiled. “I will, thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooh the plot thickens


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like they're all really in character in this chapter, which is a good feeling.

And in two nights, Elmer found himself under a tree in the earth kingdom. He sat in a square of boys who were obviously still a little uncomfortable not to be arranged in a triangle, but determined to make this new setup work. Well, all but one of them. 

“So, uh,” Elmer sat down on a patch of moss. “How did the three of you meet?”

“Oh my god,” Race’s face broke into a blushing grin, “this is the best story. Spot, do you want to tell him?”

“No. Why would I?”

Race coughed and huffed at Spot’s abrupt answer. “Alright, I’ll tell it. Grumpy-pants.” His arms flew out in front of him, as if telling everyone to stop. “So I’m this little kid, basically. Like, 15 years old, I think.”

“Race, you’re 17,” Albert pointed out. 

“Shut up, I’m telling the story. So I’m this tiny child,” Race continued, still moving his hands wildly, “and I had just snuck out of my, uh, house for the first time. I was so scared, but do ya’ll remember when you snuck out for the first time? Like that rushing feeling of just pure happiness and freedom and all that? I mean, it was years ago but I still get so excited about it-”

“Mine was three weeks ago,” Elmer muttered, appreciating the way that Race paused what he was saying to smile at him. 

“-I just, gah, it was so fun. So anyway, I was super hyped up on adrenaline, and probably sugar or somethin’ too. I like, just ran. For at least an hour, I just ran as far away from my life as I could. I didn’t wanna be there. I still don’t wanna be there, really. But I eventually made it into fire area, without really realizing it. And I was like, ‘oh shit, I know nothing about fire’. So I tried to fly over it-”

“-And you can’t fly over the fire, because it’s still super hot above it.” Spot finished. 

“Spot,” Race tilted his head sarcastically, “do you ever make up your mind about anything?”

Spot looked back at Race, throwing a quick glance over to Albert. “I don’t have to make up my mind. I’m the king.”

Elmer’s stomach fell three stories, like it had been pushed from a tower. Instantly his mind went to the worst case, which was that Spot was actually royalty, and Elmer was accidentally talking with royalty from another kingdom. His family would have killed him if that had happened. But what were the odds that two princes - or kings - from two different kingdoms would meet? So low, he reminded himself, that it was nearly impossible. 

“You’re no king,” Albert laughed loudly. “You couldn’t be kingly if you tried.”

Spot scoffed. “No, you’re right. I’d probably like, trip on my robes or somethin’.”

“Don’t let that crown fall, Spot,” Race teased. 

Elmer let out a sigh of relief. Odds were so low, they were nearly impossible. 

“‘Sides, I’m not sure I’d want to be a king,” Spot leaned against a tree. “That sounds like a helluva lot of work, and I wouldn’t want that.”

“Plus,” Albert nodded, crossing his arms and leaning forward, “all that family rivalry stuff. With the history and the issues. Like, if it happened that long ago, why not get over it? Damn.”

“I dunno,” Elmer said, too quickly. “Don’t you think it’s almost a good thing that the kingdoms are separated? I mean, we each have our own little kingdom to be in, and we all get really good at just one type of magic. I feel like that’s a good option.”

Race sat forward. “Uh-uh. If we’re separated, what happens when the earth kingdom has a draught? Or the air kingdom has a flood? Or the water kingdom has problems with their air? If we can’t help each other, our kingdoms aren’t gonna last long.”

Elmer had always been taught differently. It was for the best that the kingdoms split, his teachers had told him, because that way, there was no fighting. Or at least a little less fighting. There were still scuffle over boundaries, little tiny clashes started at the borders of kingdoms, but it was nothing like in old times, when the old rulers had fought so much that the ground in every kingdom shook. 

“I, actually, kinda agree with Elmer,” Spot spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him. “It surprised me too,” he shrugged and leaned back. 

“Besides,” Race continued, all but ignoring Spot, “look at us. There’s a kid from each kingdom here, and we’re getting along fine. Like, sure, we’re arguing right now, but none of us are gonna explode in anger. None of us are gonna starve another person, or flood another person, or pull any bullshit like that. So why can’t each of our kingdoms get along?”

Elmer hummed in almost agreement. It made sense that if they could get along, maybe his parents could make peace with the other rulers. 

“But then,” Albert shrugged, “what can we do, right? We’re a couple of kids.”

Race nodded forlornly. “But, apparently, we’ve got a king on our side,” he laughed, a little sadly. 

“I already said I’m not on your side, you ass.”

“Spot, seriously?” Albert moved closer to Spot. “You don’t think the kingdoms could make peace?”

“Not without an apology to, uh, the royal family,” Spot shook his head, looking Albert directly in the eye. “They accused them of being greedy, and that hurt the whole kingdom’s reputation forever. An apology to our whole kingdom, actually, would probably be in order.”

Spot’s face looked so dignified, so determined, that Elmer couldn’t move his eyes away from the way he spoke. 

“Huh,” Albert moved back to where he had been sitting. “If you say so, I guess. But then, would my kingdom deserve an apology for the accusations against us? None of the monarchs of the earth kingdom ever meant to not withhold food from other kingdoms.”

“Maybe apologies would be in order from and to every kingdom,” Elmer mused. “Maybe we’ve all gotten the short end of the stick here.”

Race threw up his arms in victory. “Now you get it, El!” He punched the air. “God, if I were king, I’d make a change.”

-

The moon was going down over the castle when Elmer got back home. He went straight to the library, his head spinning with ideas of apologies. He needed to look at the history again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come hang out on tumblr @javidblue or @spot-and-all-his-cronies!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall. youll get your spelmer, please chill a little.

“Okay, okay,” Albert laughed. “If you guys had to choose another kingdom to live in, what would it be and why?” He popped a few blackberries in his mouth. 

“Fire, for sure,” Race laughed. 

Elmer squinted his eyes. “Why?”

“I don’t know, I just think it’s kinda sick. Like, that’s a literal kingdom of fire. And you guys can control it! How awesome is that?” Race gaped, grinning wildly. 

Spot nodded and hit Race on the arm good-naturedly. “Can’t disagree with that,” he huffed, and Elmer thought he saw a shadow of a smile on Spot’s face. Must have just been the moon. 

“What about you, Elmer?” Albert’s eyes met Elmer’s and he had to force himself to look away; he wouldn’t be able to think right otherwise. 

“I don’t really know. I mean, air, probably,” Elmer glanced at Race briefly, but turned his head to the branches of the trees above him when he realized he might look like he was staring. “I just think it’d be cool to fly. Like, you know, I’ve climbed trees and been in tall buildings, but I’ve never flown.”

Race laughed loudly. “It’s not that great, really. I mean, I think a lot of people like it, but it’s not as fast as walking, so I feel like it’s pointless.”

“I’d like to live in air too, I think,” Albert nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, you know. I love my home. I don’t think I’d ever leave it. But like, if I could vacation somewhere, or learn another kind of magic, I’d learn air first. It’s so cool, you can literally change anything you want.” He paused for a second. “It’s not as cool as earth magic, but it’s alright.”

“I’m honored, Al, really,” Race tried to keep his face steady, but the corners of his mouth twitched.. “A glowing review of everything I’ve learned to do.”

Albert chuckled, but was quickly interrupted by Spot’s cough. 

“I,” Spot said, not without some air of drama, “would live in water.”

Elmer leaned back, bumping into a tree. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously,” Spot glared at Elmer sarcastically. “I think it’d be cool to know how to deal with both fire and water.” His face grew serious, almost reminiscent. “And it’s a good idea to know how to put out the damage you’ve done.”

“Oh,” Elmer looked Spot in the eye, and Spot narrowed his eyes. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Oh. I guess I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“And why not?” Spot raised his eyebrows, leaning in. Even though Spot was yards away, Elmer found himself feeling cramped by him. He studied his face, defensive but not angry. 

Elmer tossed his hair out of the way. “I didn’t think you’d care about where I come from.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t care because it’s your home, or because it’s a kind of magic that’s different from mine?”

He paused, aware of Race and Albert watching himself and Spot intensely. “A little of both, probably.” 

Spot nodded and leaned back. His smile - if you could have called it that in the first place - had turned into a smirk. The four of them sat in silence for a moment. 

“Y’know,” Albert said after looking around at the three boys in the clearing, “do you guys really want to learn other kinds of magic? Or at least experience them? Because we could do that.” 

Race tilted his head, a light shining in his eyes. “You mean we should learn each other’s magic,” he said, more as a statement than a question.

“Yeah! Why not? We’re all interested in each other-”

Elmer chuckled softly, unconsciously, a blush rising in his cheeks. Not that he thought he was interested in any of these boys or that they were interested in him, he allowed himself to think. Obviously. 

“We’re all interested in other kinds of magic, I mean, so why would we let ourselves be four people with different powers when we could just as easily be four people with four of the same powers. It could be a lot of fun!”

Spot nodded slowly. “Okay, okay. I’m with you.”

“This- this hasn’t been done in generations, guys. You do realize that, right? Like, no one’s done this since the first rulers of the kingdoms.” Elmer stared at each of them in turn, his mouth wide open. 

“So we’ll be the first!” Race clapped his hands together. “It’ll be history making.”

Elmer sighed. “I guess it could be fun,” he gave in, and Albert pumped his hand a little ways into the air. “I’ve kinda always wanted to learn how to work with other magic.”

“Okay,” Albert grinned. “Who should teach first? Which kind of magic do we want to learn?”

And thus the bickering began. Everyone except for Elmer seemed to think that the other three needed to learn their element, and that they should be the teacher. Elmer was focused on listening, and on trying to decide which type of magic he wanted to start with. Soon enough though, his mind wandered. As the squabble around him escalated, he surveyed the three boys.  
Albert’s face never broke from his smile, a constant reminder that this wasn’t a fight, only a disagreement. It didn’t mean anything. And yet his eyes were so alive and ready to act in case someone dared to insult his home. Albert was much taller than any of them, something that made Elmer smile. For the boy’s calm but excited demeanor, he really didn’t look the part. He probably could have wiped out any of them if he tried, just because of the height advantage.   
Spot had a leg up though. He was obviously strong, and not the kind to back down from a fight just because he was fighting a friend. His face stayed stoic, never changing. Except, Elmer noticed, when he looked directly at Race. There was some kind of feeling there, a reason that Spot couldn’t help but smile.   
And Elmer couldn’t blame him, Race made everyone smile. He even made himself smile, by the looks of it. He was a small kid, shorter than Albert and not as strong as Spot. But he bounced on his toes as he talked, prepared to jump to defend his point of view and what he wanted to do. He smiled at Spot too, but he looked the same way at Albert or Elmer as he did at Spot; what that meant, Elmer couldn’t really say. 

He found himself sad when they reached a consensus: they would learn air first. Race jumped off the ground, hovering for a second before coming back down. 

“Awesome!” Elmer smiled, noticing the sunrise over the trees. His smile fell from his face. “It’s time to go. I’ll see you guys soon?”

“For sure,” Race pulled him into a hug, and Elmer squeezed his friend tightly. Albert did the same, and Elmer reciprocated. Elmer went to shake Spot’s hand, but felt Spot’s arms around him instead.   
He couldn’t shake the smile he wore as he headed back to the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi on tumblr @javidblue or @spot-and-all-his-cronies!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by:  
> Your kind comments!!!  
> The art done of this fic by @sarsroses that I think I stared at for an hour  
> Eli Lieb's songs
> 
> (yall arent ready for what's about to go down)

It was like climbing a tree, he supposed, only there was no support system. He was on his own here, totally at the will of the wind. And he loved each second of it.  
He had to take a moment to appreciate where he was. This was midair. This was no place he was supposed to be, but all of a sudden he was there. For a prince of water magic to be lifted into the atmosphere was probably unheard of, at least in the last three generations.   
Elmer drew in a sharp breath as he jolted slightly downwards. 

“Are you ready to come down yet?” he heard Race’s voice call up to him. 

“Not really!” he said, and every syllable betrayed how overjoyed he felt to be this far up in the air. The words were barely intelligible over his laughter, uncontainable excitement bubbling up in his body. 

Race’s voice yelled at him again. “That sucks, man! I can’t really keep you up here!” 

Elmer began to slowly fall through the air, and he watched with disappointment as branches moved to above his head. He let out his breath when he finally hit the ground. It was so forceful that he fell, his palms hitting the wet dirt. 

“It’s cool, huh?” Spot raised his eyebrows at Elmer. Their eyes locked, and for the first time, Spot wasn’t challenging him. 

“Yeah,” Elmer looked at Spot, being sure to keep his chin up as he stood back up. It wasn’t very dignified, but he was proud of himself for some reason. 

Race sniffed, massaging his arms like they hurt from lifting Elmer in the air. “Wanna learn how to do it yourself?”

Elmer nodded, losing every hope of looking cool he might have once had. Race laughed at him, as did Albert. 

“I want to too, though,” Albert laughed. 

“Well I can see why,” Spot stretched his arms out in front of him. “It’s a cool thing.”

Race smiled widely. “Heck yeah it is!” he pumped his fist, drawing laughs from the other boys. “Okay, alright. So.” Race held out his hands, and it looked like calling the entire world to attention. His face and words just commanded that kind of awareness. “How do you do magic?”

Elmer stayed quiet, until he realized Race was actually looking for an answer. “You get in touch with the element,” he said, remembering every lesson he’d had since he was old enough to speak. 

Race blinked, like he hadn’t been expecting an answer that was correct. “Yeah,” he said, a little in awe. Maybe Elmer had said it too perfectly. But it wasn’t like Race - or Spot or Albert - would be able to tell that it was anything other than coincidence. 

“Yeah,” Race shook his head, bringing himself back. “That’s right. You get in touch with the element. Air is probably the easiest for this. You just feel it all around you. It’s always there. The way I learned to do it was like this.”   
Race closed his eyes, and Elmer noticed hairs on his arms standing up. A breeze moved through a group of branches as Race stuck his hand out, moving air towards a nearby tree. He looked back at his friends and the movement of leaves suddenly stopped. 

“You just start by feeling it, and then you push it. If it helps,” he tilted his head to one side, “imagine it’s water or earth or fire, but on all sides of you.”

Elmer nodded and turned to face a tree. He closed his eyes and felt the weight of the air on every side of him, eventually gathering all of his energy to his hand, and pushing away from himself. 

“Woah,” he heard Race breathe, and opened his eyes. Race wasn’t looking at him. A strong wind moved from Albert’s hand, blowing the leaves off of branches. Spot stared in disbelief, and quickly swiveled back to his own tree to keep trying. Within seconds, Spot bent the sapling so that it nearly touched the ground. 

Albert opened his eyes and turned around. “Did I do it?” he asked Race, his breath heavy. 

Race nodded, wide-eyed. “Spot too,” he pointed to the shorter boy, who lessened the level of force he was using and turned around. 

All eyes turned to Elmer. 

“It really does help to imagine it’s your own element, Elmer,” Albert’s words were kind, but he couldn’t miss the layer of pride. “Did you try that?”

Elmer shook his head. “No, but I will.”

He turned back around and faced the tree. His eyelids fell and he made a point of feeling all of the air rush over him like a wave. Like a wave: that was the key. He pushed outwards and felt the wind move with his thoughts. The tree branches rustled, and Elmer grinned as he continued to push. He heard hollering from behind him, and pushed harder.   
When he finally turned back around, Race was jumping up and down, staying in the air a longer time than Elmer could have. Albert clapped, and so did Spot. 

“Good job, Elmer!” Race almost shouted, “And good job Albert! And good job Spot!”

Spot shook his head, but for once that was a real smile that Elmer saw. 

-

As always, the hours wore on. By the time they were finished, each one of them could move the air in almost any way they wanted. Spot was the only one who could fly though, a fact which made Elmer inexplicably annoyed. As the sun began to rise, Race watched the sky. 

“Elmer,” he called from across the clearing where Elmer was sat. “I need to leave soon, do you want to walk back together a little ways?”

Elmer smiled, pleased to feel like a part of the group. “Yeah, sure,” he stood up, and Race made his way to his side to give the other two hugs. He thought he saw Albert and Spot give each other looks, but he pushed the idea out of his head. 

They walked the short path that Elmer had walked many times by now, through a few trees until they had officially crossed back over into the water kingdom. 

“This is where I leave you,” Elmer joked casually, looking towards his home. But he looked back at Race and saw his eyes; they were almost frightened, and dead serious. “What’s wro-” 

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Race interrupted him by stepping forward impulsively, grabbing Elmer’s face on both sides. Race’s palms were freezing cold on his cheeks, but his mouth kissing Elmer’s balanced it out. Elmer would have gasped, and he certainly felt his heart gasp, but once his mind wrapped around what was happening, he pushed into it, kissing back like he was learning a new kind of magic. 

When Race stepped back, Elmer tried to follow, to speak, to do something. But Race grinned smugly, his cheeks red, and nodded kindly before turning his back to Elmer and running away in huge leaps and bounds. The only thing Elmer could fathom to do was to let muscle memory take him back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... was that a good way to end that chapter???


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like three days since I updated this fic I don't like being gone for so long.

Elmer stayed in the castle for four days in a row. On the second night, he couldn’t sleep. He found himself sticking his head out the window, trying to feel the wind on his face and hoping that he could somehow see the other boys from up so high.   
He barely even came out of his room for the first two days, except to eat with his family. That had become difficult recently. He’d never lied to them before, at least not about something on this scale, and with all the sneaking around he had been doing, he felt the guilt boil in his stomach each time he looked his parents in their eyes.   
And now he suddenly felt like he had more to hide. Only this wasn’t some done thing. It wasn’t “yes, I have been sneaking out” or “no, I have not been sneaking out.” Instead, it was “yes I have been sneaking out AND I’m sneaking out to see people from other kingdoms AND a boy who keeps encouraging me to sneak out kissed me AND I liked it. But I’m not sure if I ever want to see him again because I’m not sure I can admit to myself or him that I liked it.”  
In other words, it was complicated. And lying to his parents felt like something incredibly… unprincely. He did see the irony in having originally wanted to be free from royalty and then hating what it felt like. Although, if everyone were honest, he obviously wasn’t hating it. The very fact that he spent hours contemplating whether or not he wanted to go see his friends, who he loved seeing or if he wanted to stay home and avoid his feelings was enough to prove that. Even Elmer knew that he was lying to himself. But, he found, it was a lot easier than confronting the truth.

-

On the fourth day he had spent in the castle, Elmer grew restless. It didn’t take long until he had gone downstairs, wandered around the castle, and eventually found himself in the library. A tiny fire blazed in a red brick fireplace, boiling the pool of water that surrounded it. It made Elmer smile, but he couldn’t even look at it without thinking of how much he might have missed a few nights ago. Had they talked about how to manipulate fire? Or, he thought, looking at the bricks made of earth, had Albert taught a lesson? Or was it still air, and they were learning how to be better at it?   
He tried to pull himself out of his thoughts by pulling a book off the shelf and flipping it open. Of course, he realized, he just had to have grabbed a book from the history and legend section of the library. The pictures, though, were intricately drawn and detailed, which caught his attention. He skimmed over documentation of the earth kingdom and the fire kingdom, until he came across something he’d never seen before. A first hand account of the events that had broken the kingdom into four, from a diary of the queen of air magic. 

“I was saddened,” Elmer read aloud, but in a nearly silent whisper, “to hear of the reaction that our beloved King Douglas of water magic has had to the accusations put against him by the Monarch Sierra of earth magic. Rather than bowing to their claims, or doing his best to remedy whatever the issue was, Douglas has decided to deny any and all allegations against him and his kingdom, and is no longer willing to compromise with the kingdom of air at all.”

Of course these were names that Elmer recognized. Monarch Sierra was the first ruler of the earth kingdom. King Douglas was the first king of the water kingdom. And this was written by Queen Celia, who had been the only one of the four rulers to make an attempt for peace. He continued reading. 

“I am most upset, of course, because I understand what the consequences of this new argument may be. I fear that it may be the last argument, and the one that brings the most destruction. Perhaps it is selfish of me to say, but if this kingdom were to fall apart, as I fear it will, the thing that will destroy my spirits is not the separation of the magics that I love, but rather the loss of my friends. I will strongly regret my lack of bravery to ask for their love. I will not, however, regret my lack of bravery to keep this kingdom together, for I will do all I can to ensure the unity of the four magics.”

He continued reading. Underneath the portrait of Queen Celia, a tall woman with long blonde hair, dressed all in black, there was a historian’s analysis of the diary entry.

“This entry was written only days before Queen Celia took the initiative to oppose the decisions made by the other rulers. After she took a stand for what she believed in, the other three rulers forced her and those who agreed with her practices to the mountains, far away from where she had lived for all her life. Many have speculated on the nature of the line ‘I will strongly regret my lack of bravery to ask for their love’. Some have theorized that Queen Celia held romantic emotions for one or more of her co-rulers, while other dismiss the idea of ‘love’ as purely platonic.”

Elmer had never considered the idea that romance might have existed between kingdoms before they had split apart. He felt his stomach drop, but he was getting better and better at ignoring that feeling.

“No matter what she may have felt, after the fall of the kingdom, the rulers never spoke again. It is known to each of the kingdoms that each ruler’s royal line continued. There have been generations of royal children since the fall of a unified kingdom. However, there are no formal documentations of the royal’s spouses or children, as per the original founders requests to protect the royal line from harm and publicity.”

“Huh,” Elmer whispered. “Thanks for that, I guess.”

“In accordance with the official guidelines set by Queen Celia, Monarch Sierra, King Douglas, and Queen Bramber, the direct descendants of the founders will meet at in five year intervals to discuss peace and unity. Thus far, none of the meetings between rulers have been either documented or successful. Proponents of unity, followers of Queen Celia’s ideals, can only hope that peace will eventually come out of these talks.”

Elmer’s eyes floated back to a line from the Queen’s diary. “Perhaps it is selfish of me to say, but if this kingdom were to fall apart, as I fear it will, the thing that will destroy my spirits is not the separation of the magics that I love, but rather the loss of my friends.” If he were to stop going to meet his new friends, he would end up regretting it, possibly as long as he lived. Queen Celia likely had felt that way forever. 

He ran to the large window of the library and looked out. The sun had not yet set. With a deep breath, Elmer decided that he would go that night, to see if he could find some shred of unity despite the confusion he felt towards Race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I'm foreshadowing? I kinda hope so but I kinda hope not. Guess you'll see what will happen.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to update my other fic today but that wasn't happening.

Taking a few days off from seeing his friends wasn’t such a good idea, Elmer learned. After something as important as a kiss happened, everything seemed to change. Because apparently, Race had no qualms with kissing and telling, and had had plenty of time to tell the other two about what had happened, in gross detail.   
Silence fell over the clearing as Elmer entered, and he immediately knew what had happened. Because although they weren’t saying anything, they were all looking at him. And then their faces turned to Race, who suddenly found the blades of grass he was sitting on to be fascinating. 

Elmer coughed, awkwardly bracing himself against the trunk of a tree and sitting down. 

“So, Elmer,” Albert sniggered, covering his mouth with two fingers. “Do anything, uh, interesting since I’ve seen you last?”

Elmer took a steadying breath, and then, resolving that he could deal with anything these boys decided to throw at him, shot back at Albert. “Other than kissing Race? Hm,” he made a dramatically confused face. “Oh! I read some history. That was pretty fun. Probably the most interesting thing I’ve done in a while, actually.”

Spot’s face grew defensive, angry. Or, Elmer realized, territorial. Race turned bright red. Elmer’s face, however, stayed innocently intrigued. “I don’t know if you’ve ever read some of the first hand accounts from the founders, but they’re fascinating. Queen Celia’s stuff is really just incredible.”

Race’s face went from cherry to pale as a sheet. “Queen Celia? Like the, uh,”

“Yeah, yeah. First queen of air magic. Cool lady. Anyway,” Elmer shrugged, “what did you get up to while I was studying?”

No one said anything, so Elmer kept talking. 

“Did you learn any new magic? Or did you guys just like, gossip about me?”

Spot raised his eyebrows. “Alright, so we’re being bitchy today!” 

This made Race chuckle, and instantly all the tension in the group was gone. For Elmer, at least, it was a sound that could have melted ice. And, from what he could tell by looking around, it might have had a similar effect on Spot and Albert. 

“So no, really, guys,” Elmer smiled, any malintent gone from his mind. “Did you learn anything new?”

“No, we all, uh, actually,” Race stuttered, “We figured you could teach us some water magic. Thought it would be a cool next step.” When he realized how much Elmer was staring, he tried to cover up his words with more words. “I dunno why we thought that, and if you don’t wanna do it, we can do something else, I mean-”

“No!” Elmer reached his hands out in front of him, and the tips of his fingers were only inches away from Race’s. “I mean, no. Let’s do it,” he nodded reassuringly. 

Race grinned, and looked at the other two. “Should we?”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Albert stood up. “What first?”

Elmer laughed. “Should we find some water, do you think?”

“I dunno, you’re the teacher,” Albert replied, his eyebrows raised in a challenge. 

Elmer glared at him, biting his tongue. Without saying a word, Elmer turned his back and walked back into his kingdom, only glancing behind him once he had re-entered the trees. He hid his smile the best he could when he saw that Race was directly behind him, with Spot and Albert following closely. He almost enjoyed being the center of attention like this. It was definitely different from what he was used to. Usually, he was respected because he was a prince, or because he had the powers - both magically and politically - to do some serious damage. These boys respected him because he was learned, powerful in his magic, and because they genuinely liked him. Whether that was friendly or more he didn’t let himself consider. 

He stopped the group at the bank of a stream. “This should be good, I think.”

“Whatever you say.”

Elmer had never noticed it before, but Albert’s tongue got caught between his teeth when he smiled. It was sweet, almost, like-  
The coughing noise Spot made was obviously supposed to be accidental, but sounded very purposeful. Elmer looked at Spot briefly, and took note of Spot’s heavy eyes shooting flames at him.   
He turned his attention to the stream, the sound of the water rushing over rocks and carrying leaves quickly downstream. 

“So, I think the best way to do this is kinda just the same way we did air, right?” Elmer looked around, hoping for nodding heads. Instead he got blank stares. “Just, pretend it’s your element. Here, okay. Try this.”  
Elmer looked at the water, closed his eyes, and channeled his energy into tugging at the water. Someone behind him was whispering, but he ignored it and within seconds, a thread of water had reached his outstretched fingers. He opened his eyes and smiled at the display of magic. 

“You can do it, give it a shot. Pretend it’s air, or earth, or fire. Close your eyes and envision it. You’ve got it,” Elmer said as he took steps back, prodding his friends towards the bank. 

Race stepped forward first, closing his eyes and reaching his hand out over the water. For moments, nothing happened. But as the boy’s posture gained more and more confident and powerful, droplets began to rise. He felt a splash on the palm of his hand and turned around, his arms in the air. “I did it!”

“Yeah, you did it! You can do magic that’s not your first kind, it’s not that hard!” Elmer grinned, clapping his hand on Race’s shoulder. 

Spot and Albert looked nervously at each other, and then stepped forward.  
Simultaneously they stuck their hands over the water and closed their eyes. It was much easier for them, since they had already tried a kind of magic that was different from their own when they had done air magic. Full threads of water, almost exactly the same as Elmer’s, began to rise towards their hands. They also laughed when it touched them, and the energy from their laughter sent water flying everywhere. 

Elmer bit his bottom lip in thought. That kind of control over any element was so rare, and for anyone to have that much energy in themselves meant that they were either very trained in their own kind of magic or from powerful blood. Or both. Who were these people?

“Elmer, is there anything else we can learn? Anything else super cool that you’ve got for us?” Race jumped on the balls of his feet. “Besides yourself, I mean?”

Spot rolled his eyes at Race, but his face was - well, not kind exactly. But it wasn’t angry, which Elmer took as a good sign. 

“I mean, not really. If I’m honest, that’s about all we do with the water,” Elmer laughed. “We just move it.”

Albert looked confused. “Really? You can’t like, freeze it or boil it or any of that?”

“I’m sure we could,” Elmer shook his head. “But why would we?”

Albert stepped back. “Good point.” His chest rose and fell heavily. “Should we head back then, if we’re not going to do more?”

The moon was still high in the sky. Elmer watched it through the branches and leaves of tall trees. 

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”

“I’ll race you there!” called Race, and he took off running. 

Elmer laughed, dashing after his friend. He went as fast as he could, cackling as he dodged trees and felt moonlight brush and bounce off of his skin. Since he was so caught up in himself, it took him by surprise when he felt a hand in his. Albert dragged him along, his face looking just as gleeful as Elmer felt. Elmer let it happen, running to keep up with the other boy as the two of them made their way through the increasingly tough terrain. 

When they reached their clearing, neither Albert nor Elmer bothered with letting go. Instead, they sat down side by side and weathered the looks Spot sent their way. 

As the night wore on, Elmer wished he had never skipped a meeting. He couldn’t fathom why he would ever miss a night with his friends. When the four of them ran out of things to say, Albert took Elmer’s other hand in his and rested his head on Elmer’s shoulder. And who was Elmer to move after Albert was almost asleep on him? Until, of course, the day began to creep up on him and Elmer had to slip away from the three dozing boys. Albert lazily reached for Elmer when he left, muttering something in his half-asleep stupor. Elmer smiled and, without totally knowing what he was doing, leaned down to kiss Albert’s head. He nearly missed the way that Spot’s eyes fluttered open to watch him as he whispered goodbye and left. 

It wasn’t the first time Elmer had rushed away from the clearing in a more-than-cheery mood, and he hoped he would never have a last time for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr @spot-and-all-his-cronies or @javidblue! I'm always up for a chat!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again so much for supporting this fic. It honestly means so much to me.

Days in the castle were hot and stuffy. Elmer saw the world around him the same way he saw the sun shine into his bedroom each morning: through the filter of the huge curtains on the windows. He always found himself to be a little extra tired when he woke up after having gone out the previous night, but each time he remembered what had happened with his friends, he made sure he pretended to be even more invigorated than a day when he wasn’t as tired. The sleepiness he felt couldn’t hold a candle to the joy he felt.   
On the morning after he had taught the boys to use water magic, Elmer awoke to the sun streaming in his room, as he did most days. He pulled the covers back over his head, trying to shield himself from the inevitable morning. Eventually, though, the sun became too bright to hide anymore, and he stumbled out of bed, sloppily pulling the covers back up so that it looked somewhat neat. The huge bed made his room look a little smaller, although it still took him at least a minute to walk from one side of the room to the door. The room was bigger than many of the houses he’d seen in the surrounding village, but all in all it felt no less constricting. Elmer breathed in the fresh morning air as he stepped out of his room wearing fresh clothes.   
The castle bustled with noise and with people, as it usually did. There were people running around everywhere, preparing breakfast and daily schedules for the King and Queen. Elmer smiled at each of them as he walked down a huge staircase paved with river rocks, into the small room off of the kitchen where he would eat a small breakfast. The room was just as it usually was; a fireplace spread warmth and light that bounced off of stone walls, a small river flowed on all four corners the room, pushing itself out into the moat, and the scent of baking bread made Elmer grin. And yet, there was something different. Elmer’s mother and father sat at the tiny wooden table, each nibbling on a slice of bread or sipping from a mug of coffee. 

“Good morning, mom, dad,” Elmer sat down opposite from them, and smiled at the baker who gave him a plate of bread and fruit. They gave him looks that seemed to reprimand him for his informality, and he lifted his chin. “I do not, um, normally see you here in the mornings. Is something wrong?”

“No,” assured his father, setting down his mug. “Nothing’s wrong. The two of us found it necessary to talk to you about something.”

Elmer’s heart jumped, and then fell through his ribcage. He ran through each time he’d snuck out in the past month. Had he gotten lazy? Had someone seen him? If they had, and they had told his parents, what would his parents think? Was he in trouble?  
He kept his face as blank as possible, and took a bite of fruit. “And what would that be?”

“You may or may not know this,” his mother also set her mug down, “I do not know how thorough your lessons on this topic have been. Every five years, the direct descendants of the original rulers meet to discuss peace.”

“I have heard of that, yes,” Elmer nodded. 

“Well, in a few days, the kingdoms will reach that five year point once again,” his father continued. “And I will be leaving to attempt to reason with the rulers of the other kingdoms.”

Elmer straightened his back. “Oh. Well, I wish you good luck, fathe-”

“That is not all. The air kingdom sent over a messenger - a dangerous thing to do, really, what with the current tensions over borders, but I digress - to ask my permission for their eldest son to sit in on the peace talks. Apparently, their current ruler is beginning to get quite old,” his father said it as if it were a joke, but Elmer had noticed the new gray hairs in his father’s beard, “and they want to prepare their prince for peace talks. Because of this, I have requested that we also bring you along. The messenger who replied to our proposal said that this year, each of the kingdoms will be bringing their eldest prince or princess to the peace talks.”

“What if I don't want to go?” Elmer said, his voice raising in shock. “What if I have things to do here?” He stood up without knowing that he was even moving. 

“Elmer,” his mother warned, her original accent from her life before royalty slipping through, “you will go. Now that each of the kingdoms has promised a prince or princess, it would be disrespectful of you not to go.”

His father nodded absolutely. “Exactly. And, with these peace talks, any misstep could lead to a prolonged secession, or worse. It is a risk we cannot afford to take. You will go.”

“How long will it be?” Elmer sat back down.

“One week.”

“A whole week?” he felt his eyes bugging out of his head. “I can’t miss that much!”

His mother stood up. “Your informality is undiplomatic, Prince Elmer.” She looked down at him in disappointment. “You have proven that you must go, in order to learn about the ways of being a King.”

“We leave tomorrow for the Palace of Air,” his father said, and turned his back.

As his parents left the room, Elmer stared into the fire. A whole week without seeing Spot, Race, and Albert. It was a thought he couldn’t bear. What if he missed learning other kinds of magic? He was sure that they would assume he was angry with them, and would continue teaching each other despite his absence. And now that he had taught them water magic, did they even need him anymore? 

-

He found himself with the sun on his eyes, water running both under and over his feet. Elmer didn’t have the energy to stay on top of the water, but he did have the drive to get across the moat. Once he landed on solid ground, he took off, running to somewhere he didn’t know. His feet were the first to burst through the grove of trees, and the first to warn him that something was directly in front of him. He crashed into what his brain first labeled as a small tree, but when it fell over and gave a small scream, he ruled out that option. 

Clamboring over his limbs, he stood up and brushed himself off. 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see that there was someone here I just kind of-” Elmer’s eyes met the eyes of the person he had knocked over. 

“Elmer?” the person in front of him asked in shock. 

“Spot, hi, I didn’t expect to see you here. Well, I didn’t expect to see anyone here, honestly, but I think that much was, uh, kind of obvious by the way that I, well. You know. Ran into you.”

Spot raised his eyebrows. “Yeah,” he smirked. “I’d say that’s a pretty obvious indicator of the idea that you were alone. Also, you know, the way that you’re stuttering over yourself, and the way that your shirt - which is surprisingly fancy, by the way-” Spot gestured to Elmer’s once-white shirt that was now soiled with mud, “is untucked from your pants in some very weird ways. You look a little, uh,” he moved his hands around arrogantly, like he was searching for the right word, “disheveled.” 

Elmer hurried to untuck his shirt totally. “And, well, for someone who just got knocked over you look very, uh,” he stuttered, trying to describe Spot, who was in fact not fazed at all by the fall. “You look very sheveled.”

“That’s not a word. You just took my word and made it the opposite.”

“Cut me some slack, here, okay? I’m workin’ on it.” Elmer looked down at his shirt, which was really a mess. “I’m a little upset today and I feel like everything’s going wrong and now, to top it all off, you’re here. It couldn’t have been one of the people who actually likes me - in their own weird, maybe-not-friendly way. No, it had to be the one person who just hates me for no reason, who can’t get his head around the fact that there aren’t three people in the friend group anymore, there are four, and that that isn’t a bad thing.” He didn’t even know where the words were coming from at this point.  
“No, it had to be you, the guy who thinks he’s cooler than me or better than me because he’s had friends longer. I don’t know if that’s why you hate me. Maybe you think that, like, just because I’m water and you’re fire, we’re too different to be friends? I don’t-”

It was the second time that Elmer had been in the woods and he had been cut off from speaking. And for the second time, Elmer felt like sparks shot through his body, originating at the mouth that was now pushing him backward and pulling him in again. Spot kissed him, just like Race had, and Elmer reached into it, wrapping his arms around Spot’s neck and pulling, feeling the weight of Spot’s hands on his back. A part of him tried to stay connected to Spot in any way he could, tried to pull just a little closer, to fold himself into Spot. But his brain forced his mouth to disconnect, and his legs to step away. 

“But you, you hate me,” Elmer’s voice shook, going in and out and sounding almost silent on the word ‘hate’. 

“Elmer.” Spot ran a hand through his messy hair. “I think it’s pretty easy to see that I don’t hate you, actually.”

Elmer stepped forward again. “Then why would you act so mean to me? You didn’t talk to me, you didn’t like talking about me, you hardly even looked at me.”

“I didn’t hate you,” Spot repeated. “I was pissed at you, sure.”

“Why were you-”

“Because Race and Albert liked you so much and I was used to not having to worry if they liked someone else.”

“You were jealous,” Elmer realized. “You like them.”

The sun hit Spot’s face, where tinges of red were showing.

“I mean,” Spot’s smug demeanor was gone, “we’re practically all together anyway. When they want something, they go get it. That would explain Race being so quick to kiss you. And me. And Albert.” Spot laughed, and at first his tone was bitter but Elmer could tell that with every thought of Race that passed through his mind, he felt a little happier. 

“So what about Race and Albert, then? I mean, how would they feel about what just happened?”

“The way I see it,” Spot explained, and Elmer felt Spot’s hand in his, “They like you, they like me. I like you, you like me, do we have to keep goin’ on like this or can we kiss again?”

Elmer shook his head. “You’re still kind of a jerk, you know that?” He squeezed Spot’s hand.

“Yeah.” Spot nodded and grinned. The smugness was back as he pulled Elmer close again, and kissed him, slower this time. 

Elmer laughed as Spot pulled away. “Now you’re the one with mud on your shirt,” he pointed at Spot’s chest, and Spot rolled his eyes. 

“You, uh, said you were upset,” Spot rolled his thumb over Elmer’s hand. “Is there something I can do?”

“You do care!” Elmer whispered, sarcastically gleeful. “I honestly think you’ve done enough though. You did help, a lot.”

Spot had a dimple when he smiled. That was new. 

“I should get out of here, though,” Elmer dropped Spot’s hand and stepped back. “I don’t want to worry anyone.”

“Your parents?” Spot asked, genuinely interested. “You’ve never really mentioned family before.”

Elmer smiled at him and held his breath. “Yeah, my parents. I’ll, uh, see you around, Spot.”

“Yeah, for sure.”

Elmer turned his back to walk away, but spun around on his heels. “Oh! Spot!”

The other boy turned around, confused. 

“I might have to be gone for a few days, I think. I’ll be fine though, promise. Nothin’s wrong.”

“Huh. I’m not goin’ to be around either for a while,” Spot tilted his head to the side. “I’ll tell the guys though, if I see them.”

“Thanks!” Elmer waved, and began to run back to his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, there you go. Now will all of you stop asking for Spelmer? (you know who you are ily)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this whole thing in one day. That's a big deal for me. Hope you like this chapter, I'm finally wrapping the story up!

As they left their castle, Elmer had to pretend to be astounded at the idea of travel. He thought he did a pretty good job, actually, of seeming shocked at the prospect of being in a kingdom other than his own. 

“You will likely get used to it,” his father laughed at him. “You will travel among the kingdoms many times in the next few years, to meet with the other rulers and attempt to dispel the conflicts that have arisen between our kingdoms. But for now, enjoy your first time outside of our home. I remember when I first traveled to another kingdom, oh!” The king rolled his head, remembering. “I was so excited.”

Elmer nodded, smiling. He itched to share his first time outside of the kingdom too, but bit his tongue. 

“It all seemed so foreign to me. We went to the earth kingdom, I believe, me and my father did.”

Elmer’s first time away from home, he had met Race, who was up in that tree. He laughed at the memory of meeting his friend for the first time and being afraid. If only he had known what Race would lead to. 

“Everything there was so green, it was beautiful. You will have to go sometime, Elmer. I think you will enjoy it.”

“I think I might, father,” Elmer responded, looking in the direction of the tree where he’d seen Race. “It is to the south, is that right?”

“Yes, it is. So you are looking the wrong way,” Elmer’s father touched his face gently, pulling his focus away from the water kingdom and southward, towards the forests of the earth kingdom. “You can almost see some of it from here.”

As they crossed the border, there was a moment in which Elmer could see all four kingdoms just by looking around. He’d never get over that sight; one that reminded him of all three of his friends, the people who had taught him so much about the other magics. Elmer took a risk, looking back, and pushed a breeze through the trees of his own kingdom. He watched the branches shake and leaves fall before turning back around. 

“I am excited to see the way that people with air magic live,” Elmer told his father, sincerely. “I wonder what it is like to live without water magic.”

“I have often thought the same thing. Each of my trips has helped me to understand life outside of our own little world,” the king smiled gently at his son. “I hope it does the same for you. I have found that…” 

For the rest of the ride, Elmer was silent. He listened to his father talk about the other kingdoms sometimes, but ended up daydreaming rather than paying attention. The continuous bumping of the carriage wheels underneath him nearly lulled him to sleep. Or, he supposed, that could have been the bleak landscape of the air kingdom. Race was right, there was really nothing there. It was arid, rocky and sandy, and there were no trees anywhere.   
The terrain leading up to the castle was mountainous, a steep climb up a paved path that cut through the village. As the royal blue carriage pulled into the village, people emerged from their muddy houses to look at the prince and king.   
Elmer felt as if he should do something: he could wave, maybe, or hide so that no one in this kingdom would be able to recognize him if he ever spent any time here with Race. His father smiled out the carriage windows, waving to some of the bystanders. All Elmer could bring himself to do was watch them, these people who lived so differently from him. He told himself that it was silly to try to pick one person out in a crowd, that it would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but still his eyes searched for a head of blonde curls and bright eyes. He didn’t find him. 

The castle exterior was made of mud bricks, brown and shades of red. That seemed to be what most everything was made of here. If he were honest with himself, Elmer found the air kingdom to be totally boring. He didn’t see how a place like this could produce a person like Race, who was so fun and outgoing and exciting. 

Huge doors opened to let Elmer’s carriage in, and he stepped out into a huge garage. The horses from the carriage were unhooked, and taken to stables, while the carriage itself was brought to rest by the wall. Elmer and his father were led through a door, and stepped into a huge foyer. 

The castle interior looked a little more fun, but it was still like laying diamonds over dirt. In fact, that was exactly what it was. The stained glass and tapestried on the wall were beautiful, intricate and interesting, but the castle itself still seemed dull. There were no doors to be seen, only archways that kept the entire castle open and airy. Elmer assumed that was on purpose. 

“Hello,” a woman in a long white dress and a black cape made her way down a wide staircase. Her long blonde hair fell into her face, but as she lifted her hand gently it blew back. “King Edward, it is so good to see you again!” She took Elmer’s father’s hand and pulled him into a hug. 

“And you, Queen Summer,” his father returned the hug, somewhat awkwardly. 

She looked at Elmer, having to look down at him, since she towered above him. “You must be the prince, then? It is so nice to finally meet you,” she reached out her hand and shook his. “What is your name?”

“Prince Elmer, miss,” Elmer smiled and bowed slightly. She laughed at that, and Elmer noticed how light her voice was.

“Oh, you do not need to-” she began. “Well thank you, Prince Elmer,” she smiled, before addressing both of them. “The other kingdoms have yet to arrive, and I am so sorry to tell you that my eldest son, Prince Anthony, is out for a while. He will be back soon. In the meantime-”

The doors which Elmer and his father had walked through opened again, and in stepped a broad, dark haired man clothed all in red. A crown of jewels sat atop his head. He walked with so much purpose and determination that Elmer took a step back without realizing it. 

“King Agnus,” Queen Summer nodded her head. “So good to have you in my castle once more,” she greeted him warmly, and he shook her hand. 

“Good to be back, Queen Summer, after 20 years. And you, King Edward,” he shook the hand of the king. “Is this your son?” he nodded at Elmer. 

“Yes, this is Prince Elmer.”

“Hello, I am happy to meet you,” King Agnus shook Elmer’s hand. “The last time I was in your home, you were so small.” He and Queen Summer laughed. “We were not allowed to meet you, as per your father’s request. But now,” he shrugged happily. “Oh. And my eldest, the Prince Sean, is on his way. He is helping with the horses.”

“Do we all have Princes inheriting the throne, then?” Queen Summer asked. “Of about the same age? My Anthony is about Prince Elmer’s age.”

“As is Prince Sean,” King Agnus nodded at Elmer politely. 

“Oh, then let us pray that there is one girl in the mix,” laughed Queen Summer, shaking her head. “Or we may never have peace.”

Once again, the giant door opened, revealing a woman in green. Her pants flowed to the floor, making it look like a dress. In her dark blonde hair she wore a ring of flowers and leaves, which reminded Elmer instantly of the one Albert had worn the first night they had met. He shook the thought out of his mind. 

“Queen Laurel, how nice it is to see you,” Elmer’s father held out his hand, which she took, smiling and hugging him. She walked around the room, hugging each of the three rulers, and stopping at Elmer. 

“This must be the prince!” she exclaimed, hugging him as well. “Yours, Queen Summer?”

“No, mine, actually,” Elmer’s father stepped to Elmer’s side. “Is yours here?”

“He is, yes,” Queen Laurel smiled. “He is just outside, as he wanted to take a look at something in your stables. Funny, really, how he was pouting the entire carriage ride over. He did not want to come, would have rather stayed with his mother, and so on. But the instant we arrive, he sees something and bolts out of our carriage. He said he would come in in just a moment, but I do not-”

The door swung open for a fourth time, and Elmer’s breath could no longer move in and out of his chest. A head of red hair, crowned by a wreath of green leaves, a smile that made each of the brown bricks look golden, and green robes stepped through the door. As if that wasn’t enough, the first boy was followed by a second boy. Dark hair, dark eyes, a square jaw, red-black robes that looked like each step he took was ablaze. Maybe it was. 

“Here he is!” Queen Laurel announced. “This is the Prince Albert, heir to the throne of the earth kingdom.”

“And this,” King Angus backpacked off of her announcement, is the Prince-”

“Spot,” Elmer whispered, making no noise at all. King Angus’s son stared at Elmer like he was trying to send him up in flames. 

“-Sean. Heir to the throne of the fire kingdom.”

Elmer’s father nudged him in the side. Elmer stepped forward to shake the hands of the princes. 

“It is very nice to meet you, Prince Sean,” Elmer shook Spot’s hand, looking him dead in the eye. “And you, Prince Albert,” he smiled at Albert, passing a secret along without saying any words. 

“And my Anthony should be here soon!” Queen Summer smiled. “Oh, I hope this is the beginning of an incredible alliance.”

“It just might be, Queen Summer,” Elmer smiled at her, and she clapped her hands. 

Sounds of shoes on the floor brought everyone’s attention upwards. As soon as Elmer’s fears were confirmed, he looked to Sean and Albert, who were attempting not to laugh. 

“Here he is, a little late but here nonetheless,” Queen Summer held out her hands to her son. Her voice thinly veiled her anger at him for arriving late. “The Prince Anthony.”

Anthony’s eyes widened when he saw the scene below him, and his mouth curved up into a deceitful smile. “Thank you, mother, I am so sorry I am late. I am so very excited to meet everyone here. Are these the princes from the other kingdoms?” His voice sounded innocent, but the three princes heard his tone of glee. 

“Yes they are,” his mother pushed him lightly, and he walked down the final stair to greet everyone else there. “Prince Elmer, of the water kingdom,” Elmer held out his hand, and Anthony shook it. 

“Race,” Elmer whispered, and Prince Anthony squeezed his hand with a grin. 

He shook the hands of the other two, and then the hands of all of the rulers. 

“Well!” King Edward clapped his hands. “Now that we have all met, shall we begin peace talks?”

“Yes, let us go,” Queen Summer replied, and made a motion to follow her as she turned her back. The other three rulers hurried to her side, but the princes fell back. 

Race’s eyes were bugging out of his head, and he gestured wildly at the three of them. His arms flailed indignantly, pointing at each of them and then at the small crown he wore. Spot was quick to notice and point out Race’s hypocrisy, and he began to gesture at Race in much the same way Race had just been moving. Albert joined in, his surprise making it seemingly impossible for him to close his mouth. Elmer had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the coincidence and how stupid the boys around him looked, moving like monkeys with big feelings. When he finally took notice of their parents, stopping in a room, he threw his hands out in front of them. Their eyes turned to him, and he held up a finger to his lips. 

“They are friends already!” Queen Laurel laughed, and the four rulers smiled at their children. “Peace may come sooner than we believe.”

Elmer watched Spot repress a laugh and shot him a dirty look. They were friends already, of course. The gray area went further than friends, however, and the gray area was where Elmer let his mind run wild. 

“Let us begin,” King Angus said, and the rulers took their seats around a huge table in the middle of a wide open room. Each of the princes sat behind their parent. “Our main complaint that must be resolved before peace is that-”

As the king of fire droned on with his requests, Elmer looked not at him, but at the boy behind him. Race and Albert were doing the same thing. Spot’s hands fidgeted with the attention, but he snuck tiny looks to the princes sat around the tables that seemed to say ‘So, this is a thing.’   
Elmer touched his crown, a thin golden ring in his hair, and pointed sneakily to Spot. Spot nodded. Elmer shook his head, mouthing ‘wow’.   
He did the same thing, directed at Race, and then at Albert. They both nodded as well. What were the odds that two princes from two different kingdoms would ever meet on their own? Much less four. Much less all four of them falling in love with each other.  
Elmer’s mouth went dry, and he racked his brains. Had he really just thought that thought? That all four of them were - no. Even as one part of him denied it, though, another part of himself admitted it. Even if the four of them weren’t all in love or even in some kind of just-for-kicks flirtation with each other, Elmer felt that-

His ideas were cut off by his father banging loudly on the table. “We will not give in!” He shouted. “We will not give in to those kinds of ridiculous, outrageous commands! They are much too high, the consequences for our kingdom would be too steep!”

Queen Summer stood up. “Nor can we. You would ask that we give you more land, but that would take away our land, of which every inch is precious to us. We are short of resources as it is, we cannot simply give you what we do have.”

“Peace must be achieved at any cost,” Queen Laurel said, her voice empathetic but firm. “If we do not succeed in the peace talks this year, we run the risk of five more years of war between the citizens of our kingdoms who feel that it is their duty to protect their homelands. Without an agreement, we exacerbate these conflicts and risk bloodshed. I say that we must give the fire kingdom what it wants.”

“That is because,” Elmer’s father shouted, “you do not have to give up anything to the fire kingdom! You lose a few trees, which mean nothing to you. We lose our minerals, our stones, which are our lifeline to the water-”

“You believe that my trees are nothing to me? The plants of the earth are what bring the people of my kingdom back to the soil and connect us to our magic.”

King Edward threw his hands up. “Then why give it up?” 

“Stop!” Elmer flew upwards from his seat. 

All eyes turned to him. With seven faces looking at him, waiting for his next move, Prince Elmer took a deep, steadying breath. It took everything he had to not stress about the words coming out of his mouth, to not feel his heart race and his hands go numb. 

“You must stop arguing. Arguing about the conditions of peace prolongs conflict,” he said. For the first time, his voice didn’t shake at all when he spoke out, not even when he was afraid. For the first time, he felt like a King. “It will get you nowhere. The things that will get you somewhere are unity, selflessness, and-” he looked around the room, his eyes on the princes, “-friendship.”

“Those are good sentiments, young prince,” King Angus looked at him, his face emotionless. “Sit down. You know nothing of the politics with which you deal.”

Elmer didn’t sit down. Instead, he looked at Spot, who was still sitting behind his father. Spot’s eyes were worried, confused. But he smiled at Elmer, and Elmer took another deep breath. 

“I,” Elmer spoke slowly, “am in love with your son. And, in fact,” Elmer’s voice had strength to it, “I am in love with the other princes.”

Spot smiled wide, and as Elmer turned to face the rest of the room, he saw that Race and Albert smiled as well. 

And then his father pushed him out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS GONNA WORK OUT FINE I PROMISE
> 
> Also, I'm going to schedule it so that the last chapter comes out on Christmas morning. That's my Christmas present to yall.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was hard. i hope you like this

“Explain.” King Edward stared down at Prince Elmer. 

Elmer tried to steady his shaking hands. Any shred of confidence he’d had was gone, and he looked back up at his father with nothing less than fear. 

“So I, I would leave the castle sometimes.” Honestly, that was what Elmer was most afraid of. He didn’t care about being told off for his relationship with the other princes; there was no way he was allowed out of the castle, much less out of the kingdom at night. “And I would, uh, explore the kingdom. The first time I went out, I actually went all the way to the place where all four kingdoms meet. Just as I was thinking about how interesting it all was, I met this boy. He, uh, called himself Race.”

His father tapped his foot, but didn’t interrupt, not even to correct Elmer on his informal language and stuttering. 

“Yeah, he was from the air kingdom, and really nice. And he had these friends, Spot and Albert. Well, we started being friends too, and we would meet up every other night to talk and to, well,” he chuckled awkwardly. He wasn’t sure if he should tell this part, but he figured that he was already in trouble, so he may as well be truthful. “We would practice magic. Magic from each of the four kingdoms. Actually, we only got through two. But we wanted to lean all of them.”

“And you love these boys?” his father spoke for the first time. 

“Yes,” Elmer said, without hesitation. “I mean,” he slowed down at his father’s confused face, “I think I do. I only realized it today, when I saw them. I did not know they were princes until today, and they did not know that I was a prince until today. But um,” he blushed, “yeah. Yeah, I think I do love them. I am happy when I am with them.”

Elmer’s father looked at him, unsure. His feet stopped tapping on the dirt floor, and he pressed his lips together. 

“I would like to speak with the other rulers,” the King said. “Only the kings and queens, not the princes. Stay here,” he instructed, and Elmer nodded.

The other princes filed out of the other room as King Edward went back in. 

“That was awful,” Race shook his head. “They just sat there in silence. No one said anything.”

“Well can you blame them, really?” Albert touched his shoulder. “I mean, that kind of shock, man.”

Elmer breathed heavily when his friends walked towards him. “You guys,” he closed his eyes, not wanting to see their faces, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have even said anything. I just couldn’t take the arguing. And honestly, seeing my dad like that, and seeing you guys behind your parents and feeling like I was supposed to be angry with your parents and then also with you, I couldn’t do it.”

“No, I get it,” Race shrugged, as if the events of a few moments ago had been a card game he’d lost. “I was about to stand up and say the same thing. You just beat me to the punch.”

“The-” Elmer stuttered. “The exact same thing?”

“Well,” Race rolled his eyes, smiling. “I maybe wouldn’t have told all of our parents that I’m in love with their children. That’d be kind of a dumb move.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Spot laughed. “Elmer, who realizes that they love someone and then tells their parents? That’s such a fucked up response to that.”

“Okay maybe you wouldn’t have said that. But you do,” Elmer’s heart constricted, “you do feel the same way?”

Silence. 

“Or at least, similarly? Enough that you don’t hate me and want to never see me again?”

“We’re talking to you, aren’t we?” Spot said, as if it were obvious. It must have been, based on the looks worn by Spot, Race, and Albert. 

“Yeah,” Elmer gasped for breath. 

“Look,” Race said, getting everyone’s attention. “Actually, you know what? Let’s go outside. I think we need to not be trapped in here for a while.”

Albert nodded and was the first to follow Race out, Spot and Elmer falling into step. Race led them to a group of rocks that jutted up like knives. He sat down on one, his legs hanging off the edge. 

“You can see the whole kingdom from right here,” he said quietly, smiling like this was the first time he’d seen it. He blinked his eyes rapidly, blinking away the glassy, nostalgic look they had and turned back to the boys.  
“Okay, look,” he repeated. “Elmer, maybe I love you.” The words sounded choked. “Al, Spot, maybe I love you too. I dunno,” he looked down, but he was smiling. “I mean, I sure like saying it. I just like bein’ around you guys, and I like havin’ you around. If I don’t love you, I sure like you. And,” he looked at each of them, a tiny, confident grin conquering his blush. “I sure like kissin’ you. So maybe I love you. If I maybe love you, and you love me or maybe love me or like me even a little, could this work?”

“I think so,” Albert nodded, his face lit up by the sunshine, “because I think I maybe love you guys. Ugh, that sounds pathetic,” he laughed at himself. “Oh well. Race said it first.”

Spot laughed too, and Elmer saw his face go through a range of emotions. Spot wasn’t too sure of himself, he noticed. Elmer put his hand on top of Spot’s. The boy bit his lip. “I dunno if I love you. But Race said it right. I like bein’ with you. And I like seein’ you guys, and seein’ you smile and be happy, and I like being the cause of that, for sure. I think that I know that I like you. And if you’re okay with that, then I’m okay with that.”

“I think that’s okay,” Elmer nodded. “I think that’s just about perfect.”

The four of them sat silently for a few moments, giving Elmer enough time to think. But he didn’t think about what had happened that day, or even the people around him. He’d never felt the sun like this before. In the water kingdom, the sun was usually blocked by trees that kept the groundwater cold. He’d felt it, of course, when he was up in the castle towers and the sun had beamed through the windows, or when he and the other boys had been woken up by morning sun in their clearing. Never like this, though. It was bright and hot, and he closed his eyes and let it burn his face. Elmer remembered nights when he would look at the moon and hope it wouldn’t fall, that it would just stay there a little longer. Why would he ever do that, when the sun was so nice?

“Can we just, like,” Race said, “go back to what we used to do? Not be princes for a couple minutes, act like it’s nighttime, and do something stupid?”

Elmer laughed. “I don’t think it’ll last.”

“I know it won’t,” Race agreed. “But we could try it?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it. Should we learn magic?” Albert suggested. “Spot? Do you wanna teach us fire magic?”

Grinning, Spot nodded. “Yeah, let’s do it. Stand up, you guys. Come on.”

They did as they were told. 

“Alright, watch how I do it,” Spot said, and effortlessly created a flame in his hand. “This one’s supposed to be the hardest magic, since you don’t already have the element around you in a way you can touch. But what a lot of us in my kingdom has figured out,” he moved the flame from one hand to another, “is that you actually kinda do. You know how with air, it’s around you? In fire, it’s in you. It sounds dumb, I know.” The fire flitted from his forefinger to his middle finger and back. “But it’s true. It comes from strong feelings. Any time you’re happy, or sad, or passionate or angry, that’s fire. So,” he let the flame die, “think of that. Think of an intense feeling, and go with that. Move the feeling from your stomach or your brain or your heart, or wherever you feel it the strongest, and into your hand. It’ll work, I promise.”

Elmer closed his eyes and thought for a strong emotion. It wasn’t difficult. He’d been angry a few moments ago. He remembered the fighting, the arguing that would never bring peace. He felt it in his heart. And then the courage and conviction he’d felt at the scene in front of him. That moment in which he stood up, he moved it to his arm, then to his hand.  
And then his hand was hot. Elmer opened his eyes, and there was a tiny flame in the palm of his hand. It didn’t touch him or burn him, it only warmed the space around his hand.  
Spot was at his side, resting his hand underneath Elmer’s. 

“Good job, you’ve got it!” Spot whispered, and Elmer smiled. The flame ducked, like it was about to fizzle out. “Keep it going,” Spot encouraged. 

Spot’s voice in his ear: he moved the feeling to his hand, and the flame flew upwards. 

“Nice,” Spot grinned. “Nicely done.” He backed away, but Elmer kept keeping the flame up.  
He looked around, and saw that Spot was with Albert. Albert’s flame jumped when Spot put his arm around Albert’s waist. Elmer moved the flame from his right hand to his left hand. 

“Prince Anthony,” he heard a voice behind him. “Prince Albert, Prince Elmer, Prince Sean.” A man that Elmer did not recognize stood behind them. He let the flame fizzle and die. “You have been requested back to the deliberation room by your parents, the kings and queens of the kingdoms.”

“Yeah, yeah, thank you Mark,” Race smiled at the man and waved at him before turning around. “Should we?” he asked the other three. 

“Do we have a choice?” Albert asked. 

“I don’t think we do,” Elmer followed Race into the castle, and so did Spot and Albert. 

In the room, the four rulers sat around the table, once again calm. The chairs for the princes had changed position. No longer were they behind the rulers; instead they were close to the table, each on the ruler’s right hand side. 

Elmer sat down next to his father, who did not say anything to him or even look at him. But Elmer could have sworn that he was smiling, even for just a second before he sat down.  
The other boys sat on the right sides of their parents as well, each looking at each other and nodding. The knot in Elmer’s stomach tightened, but when he looked at Spot or Race or Albert he felt it relax a little. 

“You four have certainly given us plenty to talk about,” Queen Summer said to the princes, and the whole table nodded. “It is, of course, unprecedented what you have said. King Edward explained Prince Elmer’s story to us, and if it is true, it would be cause for a kind of armistice. Therefore, I ask: Is it true?”

“It is,” Spot told her. “I do not know exactly what he said, but I know it is correct.”

“I second his story as well,” Albert told Queen Summer.

The queen of air looked at her son. “It is true, Anthony?”

“Of course it is true,” Race smiled at her. “The whole of it.”

“Well then,” King Edward moved to stand, but fell back into his seat after looking at Prince Elmer, who sat straight in his chair. “It appears we should do everything we can to ensure peace, and even a convergence of the kingdoms.”

“Yes, I believe that would be the best path of action,” King Angus agreed. “How do we go about that, then?”

Queen Laurel spoke up. “To begin, I think that-”

“No.” King Angus interrupted her. “It is not up to us to decide this. It is for the princes, as they are the ones to bring about the peace. So, Prince Elmer? How do we begin?”

Elmer looked around, and then stood up. “Peace is more than just the unity of the four kingdoms. Obviously, that has a lot to do with it, but that is not the only thing to deal with. If the four rulers are in agreement, that is a good thing. But if the people are not in agreement, peace will be meaningless. Therefore,” he paused, “I believe that borders should be dissolved as soon as possible. Individual ruling, however, should not be. Queen Laurel’s authority in the region in which earth magic is practiced should remain, as should King Angus’s in the region of fire magic, and so on. Resources should be shared between kingdoms, gradually. Water to the kingdoms of air and earth, crops from the kingdom of earth should be shared, and then so on. That is how we start peace, at least while the four incumbent rulers are in power.”

“And after the four of us are out of power and the four princes step into power?” Queen Laurel asked, pushing her hair out of her face and leaning onto the table. 

“This is not only my choice, but my thought is,” Elmer looked at the other princes, “that with our promotion to the title of ‘King’, the kingdoms would finally become one. And instead of being four separate rulers, we would be four rulers of the same kingdom. And after we are out of power, royalty would end.”

“The end of royalty?” King Edward turned and asked his son. 

“Yes. Isn’t it time?” Elmer posed a question back at his father. “And, we do not need to think that far ahead, really,” he reasoned. “It is a proposal for a plan. Things may change in the time that the four of us are in power.”

King Edward nodded. “Shall we vote? In favor of dissolving borders and sharing resources without limitations?” 

The hands of the four rulers, as well as three princes raised. 

“Albert,” Spot whispered. 

“Oh! Are we voting too?” Albert’s head shot up, as did his hand. 

“Then it is settled,” Queen Summer smiled. “We will begin drafting plans for the peace treaty tomorrow. For now, shall we adjourn?”

-

They sat outside on the rocks once more. The sun was setting, and the moon was already in the sky. 

“You really think it’ll work?” Albert asked. 

“I don’t know,” Elmer shook his head. “I hope so. I hope the four of us can stay in a - whatever this is - kind of relationship-”

“It is a relationship, right?” Race asked. “Like a,” he moved his hands, not knowing how to form the words he needed, “relationship?”

Spot laughed. “I think it is, yeah.”

“Yeah, it is,” Elmer replied. “I hope we can stay like this, or better, or at least friends and happy with each other. That’ll ensure peace, I think.”

“I think we’ll stay like this, or better.” Albert grinned, and rested his head on Elmer’s shoulder.

“Yeah. I think so too,” Elmer wrapped his arm around Albert, who looked up at him. Elmer leaned down, pressing a kiss to Albert’s cheek. Albert shifted just enough to bring his lips to Elmer’s own. It didn’t last long, however, since the two of them were quick to notice Spot and Race next to them, Race’s hands on Spot’s cheeks, pulling him close in a kiss. It was hard to kiss when Albert wouldn’t stop laughing, Elmer found. Especially since Albert’s laughter triggered Elmer’s own laughter.  
They took a breath, still pressed next to each other. Elmer rested his head on Albert’s shoulder this time, and he saw the moon rise higher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! Don't forget that the final chapter comes out on Christmas morning!


	13. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's over! 20,000 words, 91 pages, four asshole princes, one fun story, and lots of love, encouragement, and new friends later! (Forgive me if I'm sappy, it's Christmas). Thanks for reading this story, and making it one of my all time favorites that I've written!
> 
> If you, like me, are sad that the story is ending, fear not! @heck_the_peck has convinced me to write some companion stories with the other newsies, so expect to see those soon-ish.

Elmer clapped loudly as Spot walked up the aisle, stopping at the top to turn around and face the audience gathered in the throneroom of Spot’s castle. Elmer, Albert, and Race were in the front row; across the aisle sat Spot’s mother and father. 

“Prince Sean,” said the man in front of Spot, “this is the day on which your father’s power transfers to you, as will his kingdom. In order that the kingdom may have full trust in you as their leader, please repeat the following: As have my ancestors before me,” 

“As have my ancestors before me,” Spot said.

“I vow that I will do all in my power to protect the magic of fire.”

““I vow that I will do all in my power to protect the magic of fire.”

“And I will protect the kingdom in which it reigns.”

“And I will protect the kingdom in which it reigns.”

“Thank you, Sean,” the man looked him in the eyes, and placed on his head a golden crown, with rubies all around it. “Friends and family of all kingdoms, now rise for the King.”

Elmer rose to his feet, smiling uncontrollably at Spot’s proud face. 

“May I present King Sean, ruler of the fire kingdom.”

The audience clapped loudly, and Race hollered as loud as he could. Elmer elbowed him in the stomach, but laughed at his antics. Within seconds, everyone was following Race’s example, cheering and hollering. 

-

Of course, Elmer thought as Albert walked up the aisle, all of the coronations were only a formality. Everyone knew that the second they were over, all of the “kings” would lay down their crowns and live as normally as they could. That didn’t stop Albert from being nervous for the procession. 

“What if I get the words wrong though?” he asked Elmer, before the coronation. 

“You’re not going to. You’re literally repeating what he says. You’re going to be alright.”

And of course, Albert did the whole thing perfectly. Not that it was hard, necessarily. But they still hugged him afterwards, telling him that they had all known he would do well. He walked out of the throne room, an intricate crown of flowers and branches and gems on his head, and his cape trailed behind him. It was just like the cape that all of them would wear once they became king: a stripe that looked like lava on the bottom, brown above it, then trees, sky, and clouds. Elmer smiled as he left, now the “King Albert, ruler of the earth kingdom.” He met the eyes of Albert’s mother, who wiped a tear out of her eyes and smiled at him.

-

“Allow me to present King Anthony, ruler of the air kingdom.”

Elmer was sure to scream as loud as he could when Race was crowned, as his boyfriend had instructed. Albert and Spot did the same thing, and Race’s father shot them a dirty look before he remembered that the people he was staring down outranked him, and could legally do anything they wanted to him. Not that they would ever think of doing something like, say, have him executed. But they could, and the old king knew it. 

Race’s blue eyes sparkled as the crown was placed on his head. Pure silver and intricately made, it fit his head perfectly. Elmer noticed that in this kingdom, the last ruler was the one to crown the new ruler, if possible. Race’s mother bent down to place it on his head, and it was obvious that he was breaking tradition when he reached out and hugged her. She didn’t cry, or at least she didn’t cry as much as Albert’s mother had. Race, instead of walking out of the room like he was supposed to, walked down to the front row. He kissed Spot, and then Albert, and then Elmer, and walked back up to the throne, where he sat as everyone left the room. 

-

Elmer had laughed at Albert for being nervous, but once it was his turn, he understood it. He wasn’t nervous about messing up, really; he was nervous about the fact that he was taking over his father’s kingdom. And that wasn’t true, since the borders had long since been dissolved, and the kingdoms did not need kings anymore.  
Still, it seemed important. He’d been thinking about this day since he’d been a little kid, since the first time he’d heard the story about the original founders of the kingdoms. 

“May I present,” Elmer’s father said, after crowning Elmer with a ring of gold and sapphire, “the King Elmer, ruler of the water kingdom.”

Everyone clapped, and Elmer smiled at the people in the chairs near him. His father clasped the cape around Elmer’s neck, and Elmer walked back down the aisle. 

-

They hadn’t decided on just one castle to stay in. Elmer rolled his eyes just remembering that conversation. Since they had each wanted to be at their own castle from their childhood, but they all also wanted to be with each other, they had fought for a few days over it. Once they each understood that they weren’t getting what they wanted, it came down to a final fight between Elmer and Albert, who had selected the earth castle, and Race and Spot, who had chosen the fire castle. In the end, the verdict ended up being the simplest choice: none of them.  
They’d had a house built. It was modest sized, nothing that would suggest their status to anyone who didn’t already know. There were enough rooms to fit all our people, plus at least two pairs of parents, if they ever wanted to visit for more than a day. Elmer had wanted some more space, for “any other people who might come along,” but Race had quelled his hopes for that with a promise that if anything of that sort ever did happen, they could build a second story to the house. Elmer had grumbled, but given in. 

Their house had a huge yard, big enough for anyone who wanted to come over, and certainly big enough for the kind of party that they threw after all four coronations were complete. People from the all four corners of the kingdom showed up, each one congratulating the four kings. Elmer pretended not to notice it, but people seemed particularly keen on congratulating the king from their own kingdom. It didn’t matter, really. People were eating drinking and laughing and carrying on with the party. People were happy with how everything had turned out, and that was the most important thing.  
Well, not exactly. The most important thing, Elmer thought, was the placement of the house. When they’d begun construction, that was the one thing on which Elmer would not compromise. It had to be in a very certain clearing of trees, close to the place where all four kingdoms had connected, but just barely in the earth kingdom. Luckily, no one had tried to argue with him on that.  
The OTHER more important thing, of course, was the three people who stood at his side, accepting congratulations and smiling at each other as the party went on. On a perfect night like that, Elmer wouldn’t have minded if time stopped, and the moon stayed where it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading this! You guys who have supported this story are the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; I hope you liked this! Let me know what you thought with some kudos/comments, if you feel like it!


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